>> production assistance for "inside washington" was provided by allbritton communications and politico, reporting on the legislative, executive, and political arena. >> i think is fair to say this has been the most productive post-election prado we have had in decades. >> this week "inside washington" the lame duck is not like at all. >> we are a nation that says out of many we are one. >> the commander in chief signs the repeal of don't ask, don't tell. >> we got stickered on missile defense. >> despite pressure, congress passes an arms defense with russia. >> we are not going to pass the dream act or any other legalization program until we secure our borders. >> but a path to citizenship for

children with illegal immigrants fails. the census. we are now a nation of 308 million souls, and the news is good for republicans. and has the president received his last christmas present from the opposition? >> the fact of republicans in the senate won a republican president two years from now should not be particularly surprising. >> bloomberg news reports the 111th congress made more law affecting more american since the great society legislation of the 1960's. health insurance reform, wall street regulated, the automobile -- the automobile industry rescued, don't ask, don't tell repealed, and a new nuclear arms treaty with russia

ratified. judge sessions said that the session was a disaster. to dick durbin, its achievements were dramatic. charles? >> it depends on what you think about obamacare. it is the biggest piece of legislation probably in 50 years. if you think, as i do, that it is not good for the country, and that we will spend years ruling it, then you think it is a disaster. if you think national health care is a way to go, then you think it is great and historic. >> mark? >> the list of things you went through is impressive for the congress. obviously, the reality is all backdrop to the fact that when the economy is bad, the economy is mainly the issue. >> colby, a success or failure? >> a roaring success, especially

given the context that this congress came in two years ago, the worst recession since the depression. economic uncertainty. look at the legislation that has been passed. we reformed wall street. they saved the automobile industry. they passed legislation that provides health coverage to 30 million people. we have the start treaty with russia. we have stimulated the economy and we have seen the signs of economic improvement. you cannot just take one item. taken as a whole, it is a real achievement. >> avenue, you think they did not get a lot anything done? >> they sure spend a lot of money. they are at over $1 trillion to the debt. sooner or later, they have to pay something back. >> has the congress demonstrated

that this democratic president and his colleagues will be able to accomplish something worthwhile? >> the lesson that i hope everyone takes from this is it is possible for democrats and republicans to the principle disagreements, to have some lengthy arguments, but to ultimately find common ground to move the country forward. >> but later, the president also said this. >> one thing that i hope people see in this lame duck -- i am persistent. if i believe in something strongly, i stay on it. >> what is the message from that comment? >> let us reason coultogether. this is the age of bipartisanship. this is a new approach. the expiration date on that bottle is january 5. it was an incredibly impressive

the lame-duck session, by any measure. lindsey graham, a constant critic of the president, acknowledged that. cherish this moment because it will be brief. >> he said, i am persistent. if i believe in something strongly, i stay on it. what message do you take with that, colby? >> you should not read into it in a definitive way. he made a mistake has a candidate. some of these issues -- setbacks -- he came through in the end. don't ask, don't tell is a good example of that. that was a commitment he made. >> how does he go from a shellacking last month to a victory lap december 27? >> i think he was given a gift in the tax cut deal compromise.

if republicans had simply held up for the extension of all the rates, there would have done it. they surely would have gotten it retroactively within a week or two in january. once obama achieved that bipartisan aura, everything opened up and he was able to pass the don't ask, don't tell, and the start treaty. >> and then? >> starting in january, he has to chart a course -- it does not need to get done in the first two years -- but chart a course for his reelection and to some big things. tax reform, social security. things that we have to do with in terms of long-term. >> when he talked about his persistence, here is a guy that had a strong ideological agenda. for example, health care and

financial reform. even though he lost the great massachusetts senate rate, he persisted on health care and got it. he knew he had two years of the 111th congress to do everything he wanted to do. ideologically, he did it. now he is going to act as a centrist so he gets a second mandate. >> don't ask, don't tell repeal. what will be the consequences of that? >> i say to all americans, gay or straight, who wants to serve in uniform, your country wants you, your country needs you, and we are honored. >> a whole don't ask, don't tell policy is the lowest priority in my mind right now. >> that is a soldier in afghanistan. senator mccain believes that we

should not fix this. your take on that, colby? >> as i have said in the past, several times, i did not think the ending don't ask, don't tell would somehow hurt unit cohesion. republicans who oppose this, like john mccain, this is an issue where we have seen the country come together in the past two years behind the repeal. the opponents really appear to be from another era. i think they are going to have some difficulty recovering from this. they came across very, very

badly. >> charles? >> i think it is a matter of generations. clearly, the culture of our country is changing rapidly. if you look at the legalization of gay marriage, even in california, where it was rejected, the margin of rejection was 10 points less this year than it was 10 years ago. the best part of this is the way it was done, through congress, and not through the courts. you can end up with three decades of social strife. if you do it in the congress, as we did, it gained legitimacy, as it expresses popular will, and the way the legislation was written, it allows the gradual implementation, which is sensitive to those who are concerned in the military. >> those opposed to it in the military hear it from the

combat arms, troops on the ground, that this might have an impact on unit cohesion. >> i have heard the same thing, but in the spirit of the christmas season -- if you will pardon the expression -- let me endorse what charles has just said. he is absolutely right. the legislative process. there were three players who were absolutely immense. the president made it a priority. admiral mike mullen and secretary of defense bob gates. there were some that expressed reservations, but they will accept -- aye,aye, sir, i will comply. they understand. >> for a long time, don't ask, don't tell was seen as an

excuse. that is a bad idea. that excuse has been taken away. hopefully, it will bring r.o.t.c. back. >> i must say, even though people are criticizing john mccain and others, i respect for the two sides of this argument. mccain is not looking for a pander. this is what he feels. i think you can still over -- respect the two arguments, but given the way the country has changed, the right decision was made. >> i can be respectful to john mccain but i can disagree with his position and say that he was wrong. >> grant him some sincerity. >> let me ask you about start, the treaty with the russians. why was their opposition to that? it looked like everyone was for it, including henry kissinger.

>> the main reason was, they included in the preamble a sentence saying there was an interrelationship between offensive missiles and defense of weapons, meaning anti-missile defenses. in the decade preceding the bush administration had concluded the treaty of moscow eight years ago and there was not a syllable of any connection between them. this was a return to an era of the cold war where you would limit defenses because the russians are afraid it would degrade the value of their nuclear arsenal. that is a mistake because our only hope in the 21st century of defending ourselves against robes will be missile defense. you do not want anything in a tree that restricts that. >> i listened to that debate, particularly the debate on wednesday, and heard simply lieberman, senator mccain, speaking to senator corker, to

clarify the charges that were made. the ambiguity in the preamble is what they focused on, contrary to what you said. >> this is a political achievements of great significance. the president's position, he prevailed over the number one and number two republicans in the senate. lieutenant general frank klotz, in charge of the global strike command, which has two-thirds of our nuclear capacity, said that this ought gives us the ability to verify each other's arsenal. >> on start, any republican votes surprise you? >> several of them, not the least of them was john thune, tall, handsome south dakota and. he was making sounds of running for president in 2012. lisa murkowski, they reelected

republican from alaska, is an independent agent all of a sudden. don't ask, don't tell, start -- the republican leadership, if you recall, cut her loose. she apparently has a long memory. >> and she has cut them loose. >> she voted for all of these things. >> let me say one word about start. there is something so anachronistic about it. it is putting us and the russians back in the 1950's. the idea that we are going to curtail our arsenals by 10%, and that will make any difference, even if the russians wanted to triple their arsenal, it will not make a difference. who cares. the point is, obama wanted a victory of sorts, and this is the only one that he had in foreign affairs.

intrinsically, it has almost no importance whatsoever. >> that is not a question of trust. it was not just rakowski. you have 13 republicans who did not follow leadership. >> the public does not give a darn about what the leadership thinks. maybe senators are getting the point. another thing on the deficit, mark warner of virginia, has been pulling together in this bipartisan committee, people from both parties opening on social security, 3rd rail-kind of stuff, but he got a lot of people to pay attention. helping independents on tough

calls will help us in the end. >> the last reform of social security was after the reelection of george bush in 2005, who wanted to privatize social security. the stock market always goes up? does anyone else see the condition of this country psychically, if we have privatized? >> that is giving a bad name to a good thing. there are many other ways to do it to make some sense. >> i understand that, but it has to be scrutinized. >> i think entitlement reform will be a task. it will be addressed. republicans are talking about it, democrats are talking about it. that is an imperative.

but it is almost like, on tax reform, protecting the middle class, but the deficit is going to take over in the next couple of years. >> one thing is health care expenditures. medicare, medicaid, that is where the money is, even more than social security. the problem with obamacare is it freezes in place these huge expenditures, it does not cut cost, half a trillion in taxes devoted to the obamacare plan, and it siphoned off the cuts in medicare for the new entitlement. so there is nothing available to reduce the debt. >> that is the real problem with obamacare. >> the health care reform act -- charles somehow wants to denigrate and personalize this, obamacare. that is part of the partisan attacks logan. let's call this what it is.

>> the dream act and what it means for the future of politics in this country. >> they are growing up, going to class, dreaming about college, and suddenly, they come to 18, 19 years old and they realize, even though i feel american, i am an american, the law does not recognize me as an american. >> that is president obama on the failure of the dream act. >> stupid politics. immigration reform. it just hangs over the head of all of this. this is a small attempt to cure a real problem. we need to do larger reform about immigration. we need to find better control of our borders.

>> lindsey graham said that they were not going to vote for anything -- >> we need visas of smart people to come and work here, but it got gets caught up in immigration reform. >> 10% unemployment has helped to secure the borders, let's be honest about that. the flow has slowed down considerably. evan's point about the political reality of this -- california is not 37.2% latino. 42% anglo. republicans ought to look at those numbers and think there has to be something done. we have 7-year-old kids coming to the country. many of these kids want to serve

in the army, the navy. >> you mentioned the census. some of the figures indicate the population growth in the west and south republicans. >> that is a premature conclusion. certainly, the numbers would favor seats moving to places like texas and california. the census would also indicate, because of the latino population, may help democrats. the question is, how will be restricting be done? that is where the voting rights act will kick in on this. if they tried to create districts that are exclusive, or they tend to dilute the vote, there will be some issues. >> immigration reform.

i think it will have big effects on the presidential elections and rational. the electoral college is winner- take-all. texas just added four. it will always be republican, even though a large element of the growth in texas was hispanic. so in the congressional elections in texas, you are likely to get not all republicans. some will be democratic because there are heavily hispanic, but i believe it moves six electoral votes immediately from the democrats, into the republican hands. >> the republicans and democrats are just whistling past the graveyard on this. the numbers have to help the democratic party. >> short term, the 10 states that but moved seats, they were

carried by obama. you have the biggest concentration of republican governors we have that in the country since 1928. ohio is losing two seats. ohio gained five republicans in the last election. how are you going to draw those lines? toledo, akron, cleveland, cincinnati, a lot of democrats are to have precincts. that will be a tough job for the republicans. >> it was such a disaster if you are a democrat. 19 state has a switched from democratic to republican. they are the ones that will be redrawn the lines. >> i am not naive. i know there will be tough fights ahead. >> but i think we demonstrated on the tax fight that there are some things that we can do.

>> mitch mcconnell, why would they say no, mark? >> i cannot imagine other than their number one priority is to defeat the president. >> the reality is the era of good will that we have just gone through it remarkable, refreshing. one of the real problems they are facing is, march 4, funding for the government will run out. they hear the tea party people who want to cut, cut, cut, and there cannot be the status quo. >> republicans in the house? >> i think we can look at two issues of agreement. i think we can get in on social security, and part of it is

because republicans are willing to accept means testing, which means the rich will get less, the poor will get more, and secondly, he might be able to reduce corporate tax rates. democrats understand that, internationally, ours is very high and we are discouraging investment. >> colby? >> the larger question is the deficit. mark has talked about that with the continuing of the spending resolution. >> avenue, you are the historian. when does the president embraced this idea of executive power -- embrace this president oidea ofe power? >> congress does not merely want

responsibility. domestic stop is a closer call. i think this republican congress is determined to stop obama, no matter what. the chances of anything good happening in the next two years are low. but i think this is all a dance getting ready for a pivotal election in 2012, which i hope will be about the issue of, will step up to the problems of our future or not? >> complicating all of this is the republican race for president has begun. it will be influencing, if not shaping, in large part, republican policy. >> i cannot see it having an effect in 2011. perhaps in 2012. i am not sure it will have an

impact on congress. >> charles, everyone and her uncle are running in 2012. let's make that clear. >> thank you very much. enjoy the christmas weekend. see you next week. >> thanks for watching "inside washington," and stay on the inside track with abc news now. washington," and stay on the inside track with abc news now. for a transcri